This devotional series examines a verse or two from each chapter of Proverbs each day of January 2017.
Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. ~Proverbs 9:8
I suspect that knowing whether or not you are wise is like many other virtues in life. The more wise you think you are, the less wise you actually are. Still, is there a way to know if you are moving forward on the path toward wisdom?
One way is to consider what Solomon said in Proverbs 9:8 and ask the question of yourself: How do I react when someone rebukes and/or corrects me? In other words, how do you respond to accountability?
In life we often want to surround ourselves with yes men, those friends who will tell us that everything we do is good and right and true. Yet wisdom realizes this is folly. Wisdom realizes that none of us have reached that point of perfect wisdom and perfect goodness. Even as we have been created new in Christ, we have to learn and grow. We have rough edges that need buffed away. We have dross that must be refined out.
And to help with this process, God has given us friends and family, brothers and sisters in Christ.
So, if one rebukes or corrects you, how do you respond? A wise person will receive it and learn from it. A fool will respond, “Who are you to judge me?” Wisdom, after all, does not think too highly of self, because wisdom realizes that we each have more growing to do.
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